Davos- Liam Fox, the United Kingdom’s international trade secretary, said on Wednesday, that the government still wants a deal, and hopes for one, yet the chance of a no-deal Brexit remains strong.
Fox’s statements came on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum 2019 annual meeting, as he stressed the need to prepare for a no-deal scenario.
During an interview with CNBC in Davos, Fox stressed that independent trade policy is what the British people voted for in the referendum.
The UK international trade secretary added further, “if we’re unable to determine the countries that we make agreements with in the future-If we have to apply European common external tariff, it’s hugely restricting on what we can do. I can’t see how you would get into, for example, a free trade agreement (FTAs) with the US, or how we could get global liberalisation of services-through FTAs, if we were unable to do that. So the price would be very high, and I think that the democratic pushback in the UK would also be very high.”
In January, UK prime minister Theresa May suffered an overwhelming defeat after her Brexit deal was rejected by parliament with 432 votes against, and 202 in favour, raising the fears of a no-deal Brexit.
